Class C downshifting ?

Thanks for all the inputs, and yes its running on cruise when all this happens. I have no problem slowing down going up hills, but the downshifting is anoying to say the least.

I have a smaller 2016 Class C 25ft oal and no slides and no tow. It's on an E350 chassis With the Triton v10. When I hit a long, short up grade, even a moderate/strong headwind it will downshift.Cruise on or not. I was going West across northern Texas on Rt 82 this last summer and the best speed I could get was 60 mph due to a strong headwind. Every time I finally got it going 65 or so and it finally upshifted the wind would slow it down it would downshift. I had the same problem last year heading West on Rt 2 in North Dakota. Very frustrating. I felt I was beating on the drive train so I just backed it down. Lived with it. These class C's aren't very aerodynamic. I had a 2008 F350 with the 5.4L engine that did the same thing. When the warranty runs out on this RV I might mess with the tuning. Well see.
Just thinking about this again.. If I leave it in cruise and it downshift it stays in the lowergear increasing speed well beyond where I had it set. If I knock off the cruise when I hear the engine load increase I can hold off the downshift longer and it will upshot sooner,then engage the cruise again. Hope I explained this ok.

With cruise control on, the only way it can keep the speed up ( or at least try to keep it up) while climbing hills, is to down shift. The easiest/simplest/cheapest way to minimize that, is to disengage the cruise control on hills. ;)

My Class C is older so it only has a 4 speed trans but that doesn't change much. What I do is anticipate the hill and tap the brake pedal to kick off cruise control than I push the button to shift it out of 4th gear to 3rd and as it gets down to around 40 I back off the accelerator and manually shift down into 2nd. This eases the abruptness of the down shift and I have better control over RPMs. However reving doesn't harm the engine up to 4500 to 5000 rpm's(wish mine had a tach) and that's what it does to make power.

By whats been said, it sounds like the 5 star tuner may be worth the $400 it cost. Is it much to install? I assume you’d like to have it close by if it shows you your motor dianostics ?
Jamie

jstrong499 wrote:
By whats been said, it sounds like the 5 star tuner may be worth the $400 it cost. Is it much to install? I assume you’d like to have it close by if it shows you your motor dianostics ?
Jamie

It "installs" new firmware to the engine control computer, then you disconnect it, unless you want to use it's scan tool functions on an ongoing basis.......but leaving it connected when the engine is not running might drain your battery.

Installing the firmware is easy.
Un-installing it is too.

docsouce wrote:
I have a smaller 2016 Class C 25ft oal and no slides and no tow. It's on an E350 chassis With the Triton v10. When I hit a long, short up grade, even a moderate/strong headwind it will downshift.Cruise on or not. I was going West across northern Texas on Rt 82 this last summer and the best speed I could get was 60 mph due to a strong headwind. Every time I finally got it going 65 or so and it finally upshifted the wind would slow it down it would downshift. I had the same problem last year heading West on Rt 2 in North Dakota. Very frustrating. I felt I was beating on the drive train so I just backed it down. Lived with it. These class C's aren't very aerodynamic. I had a 2008 F350 with the 5.4L engine that did the same thing. When the warranty runs out on this RV I might mess with the tuning. Well see.
Just thinking about this again.. If I leave it in cruise and it downshift it stays in the lowergear increasing speed well beyond where I had it set. If I knock off the cruise when I hear the engine load increase I can hold off the downshift longer and it will upshot sooner,then engage the cruise again. Hope I explained this ok.

Just use tow haul, and let in stay in the lower gear it wants to be on. Or manually put it in 4th. 5th and 6th are both overdrives on your transmission.

Mich F wrote:
With cruise control on, the only way it can keep the speed up ( or at least try to keep it up) while climbing hills, is to down shift. The easiest/simplest/cheapest way to minimize that, is to disengage the cruise control on hills. ;)

On my 1998 E150 instead of disengaging the cruise control I would just turn off the overdrive as soon as we would start to lose speed going up a long hill. This would force it to downshift early, which was not a harsh and the engine did not rev up nearly as much.

Jamie the 5 star is just a tune and the install instrument has the ability to diagnose and read trouble codes. You download the OEM code to the instrument then upload the tune via the under dash OBD plug. Its the rectangular one with about a dozen pins in it. I have the tune on my 2012 winnebago aspect, does civilize things as far as the rpm and transmission is. ALso helps with the dead throttle that they now have installed. You know its an electric thing and not cable or linkage activated, so now I have somewhat better throttle control with the tune. Ther may be a holiday sale coming up I dont know. I got mine when there was one and saves some $$. Mike does help if you have issues. Good guy.

NEWSFLASH: Every vehicle has it's built in limitations usually based on price point. Hopefully, someday (before you die) you guys will realize that you are a lot better off buying the vehicle/RV you need rather than building/modifying the one you have into the one you wish you had.

Although they're not perfect, if it was reliably possible, he engineers at Ford would have already designed the vehicle you wish you had at the price you can afford.

Chum lee